Orlando City vs. Charlotte FC: Five Takeaways

Orlando City got smacked around in North Carolina in its second-to-last game of the regular season in a 4-0 loss to Charlotte FC. The loss puts the team’s playoff hopes in serious jeopardy, although it does still control its own destiny heading into Decision Day on Saturday. What follows are my five big observations from a thoroughly unenjoyable viewing experience.

Early Goals Overwhelm Orlando

Outside of the opening five minutes of each half, the game was a relatively even affair, with both teams having plenty of possession and chances to go along with it. Unfortunately, OCSC was positively awful in the first five minutes of each half. The Lions gave up a bad free kick on the edge of the area after five minutes had been played, and then displayed a shocking lack of defending on the back post (yet again) to giftwrap the game’s opening goal to Charlotte. In the 49th minute, Orlando allowed Allan Saint-Maximin to waltz through the heart of the midfield practically unchallenged and power a shot low and hard past Maxime Crepeau to double the lead and all but doom the Lions’ chances of taking anything from the contest. Charlotte’s two late goals made the score even uglier, but the early strikes in each half were the ones that truly changed things.

More Yellow Card Accumulation

A recurring theme for Orlando in recent games has been missing players due to yellow card accumulation, as David Brekalo was unavailable for this one, Eduard Atuesta was out against Chicago on Wednesday, and Marco Pasalic missed out on the trip to play Toronto FC. Iago made sure the pattern will continue on Decision Day when he picked up a wholly needless yellow card in the 25th minute — for either an unnecessary foul or for dissent afterward — in a home stretch that has seen Orlando without Robin Jansson, Tyrese Spicer, and Griffin Dorsey. In addition to other myriad absences through injury, players getting themselves suspended for no reason certainly hasn’t made the end of the season any easier. Brekalo will be back from suspension for the final game of the season, but the Lions will have another makeshift defense when they welcome one of the best teams in the East to Central Florida.

Possession Without Product

Orlando finished the game with slightly more possession than the home side (51.3% to 48.7%) and actually outshot Charlotte 17-14, but the Lions were far less effective with the ball than the winning side. OCSC put eight shots on target while Charlotte only managed six, and while Kristijan Kahlina made some sharp saves, Orlando had trouble carving out any truly clean looks at goal. Charlotte’s early lead enabled the hosts to be more cautious opening themselves up, so the Lions were often shooting through traffic, from the edge of the box, or from a tight angle. It isn’t often that this team doesn’t get at least one goal on the board, but it was hard to say it deserved to get on the scoresheet in this one.

Quiet Night for Crepeau

Maxime Crepeau wasn’t able to have much of an impact on proceedings, but I don’t hold him at fault for any of the goals. His defense left him completely exposed on the first, the second from Saint-Maximin was a well-placed rocket through traffic, he did exceedingly well to then save a penalty on the third only to be let down by slow-reacting teammates when Abdoulaye Doucoure slammed home the rebound, and Rodolfo Aloko was left completely unmarked in the box on the fourth. I can’t help but feel bad for the Canadian international this year. He had a rocky start to the year, but has often kept Orlando in games once the season resumed post-World Cup, and the team wouldn’t still be in the hunt for a playoff spot without him. Lately it seems like the Lions get tuned up if he isn’t able to make at least several outstanding saves that he has no right to make, and that’s how it proved to be in this game.

Road Struggles Continue With a Vengeance

At the end of the day, the Lions once again looked outclassed on the road. It’s difficult to get results away from home in MLS, that’s no secret, but Orlando’s form has been truly horrible. Orlando finishes the year with three wins, 10 losses, and four draws on the road during the 2026 regular season, and has scored 30 goals while giving up a league-worst 56. The team has averaged 1.88 points per game at home, and a paltry 0.76 when it has to leave the safety of the nest. Having a high-octane offense doesn’t matter if you can’t consistently keep the ball out of the back of your own net, and the Lions have struggled to do that on the road. There are a lot of things that this team needs to fix in the off-season, and becoming even marginally better away from home is just one item on a very long list.

That’s how I saw an ugly penultimate match of the regular season. What did you think of this one? Be sure to have your say down in the comments.